Death Eater Eaters
by youhavedirtonyournose
Summary: Lily Evans has just regained consciousness after being tortured to within an inch of her life. Meanwhile, a mysterious group are targeting Voldemort's supporters and killing them off one by one - a group that have taken a very strong interest in Lily's case. Takes place during the final year of Hogwarts. *Full summary inside* M rating - language, violence and mild sexual references
1. Chapter 1 - Fate

**Summary:**

Lily Evans has just regained consciousness after being tortured to within an inch of her life. She chooses to give up the painful memories of her parents death and her own torture, not wanting to live a life that revolves around hate and revenge. Meanwhile, a mysterious group are targeting Voldemort's supporters and killing them off one by one - a group that have taken a very strong interest in Lily's case. As those responsible for the crimes committed against Lily begin to die mysteriously, Lily finds herself unwittingly tangled in a web of lies, mystery and murder.

The majority of the story takes place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, following Lily Evans and her peers through their seventh year.

This is an AU, multi-chapter FanFiction.

 **Pairings:**

Lily Evans and James Potter (main pairing focus)

Possibly more as the story develops.

 **Story rating:** M (violence, language and mild sexual references)

 **Chapter rating:** T (reference to torture and murder - but no description in this chapter)

 **Disclaimer:** All characters, settings and the general fantasy world belong to JK Rowling. I claim no ownership or profits whatsoever. The only purpose of this story is for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of those who visit this site.

P.S. I hope you enjoy it. I'm a little unsure to be honest so I'll take it off if people don't like it.

* * *

Lily Evans was not supposed to wake up. The healers had deemed her a lost cause the moment her lifeless body had hit the hospital bed. If the healers had their way, they would have sent her straight to the morgue to save time. Luckily for Lily, hospital procedure got in their way.

At St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, it is required that all unconscious patients receive a minimum of two weeks medical care. It used to be four weeks before the war came along and placed a tremendous amount of pressure on hospital resources.

Time was running out fast for Lily Evans. For thirteen days she had not shown even an inkling of recovery. Her wounds had been healed, her bruises removed, but her soul remained in pieces.

Most of the time, spells only manage to penetrate the outer shell of a person - this can be easily remedied with a few quick spells or a potion of some sort. When the body cannot contain anymore damage however, the spells break through to the very core of a person. If this should happen, the person in question is as good as dead.

When the healers had first seen the x-ray images of Lily's soul, they had been horrified by the sheer extent of the damage. They knew that this girl must have gone through a monumentous amount of pain to obtain such an injury.

To look at her, tucked into pristinely white covers with a peaceful expression gracing her delicate face, one could never have guessed the nightmare she had been through. Nobody would have ever suspected that beneath the layer of smooth skin, she had been shattered into a million pieces over and over again - they were lucky that they didn't have to know.

A healer bustled through the door and cast charms at the several oil lamps floating around the edges of the room. Dim light filled the modest space, casting the bare furniture in it's soft, amber glow. Everything in this room complemented the patient perfectly - desolate and lifeless.

The healer walked towards a spindly cabinet which was positioned at the side of the hospital bed, she fumbled in the large pocket at the front of her apron and took out a rusted key. She gently pushed it into the keyhole of one of the cabinet drawers, and wriggled it around for a few moments. When a sharp click echoed around the room, she pulled open the wooden drawer and took out several pieces of parchment.

Running a hand through her prematurely grey-streaked hair, she sighed as she scanned the patient information.

"Right," she muttered to herself, "let's see how you're getting along today."

She put the parchment down on top of the cabinet and retrieved her wand from the pocket of her apron.

"Erandio Episte," she said softly as a wisp of pale blue smoke emitted from the end of her wand. The smoke glided towards Lily and spread so that it hovered over every inch of her body. Lily's skin began to glow as the smoke steadily seeped through to her insides.

After about five minutes, the smoke reemerged a murky red colour, and travelled towards the parchment that the nurse had previously been reading. The nurse watched gloomily as the red smoke was absorbed by the parchment. After all of the smoke had been absorbed, writing appeared on the parchment and the nurse bent down to peruse the new information.

She frowned down at the words and rubbed a hand wearily over her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the young girl lying motionless and felt her throat constrict with sadness.

"You just don't want to wake up, do you sweetheart?" she whispered, reaching out to squeeze one bloodless hand. "Such a shame."

The healer coughed lightly in an attempt to rid herself of the lump in her throat, and abruptly turned her back on Lily Evans. She scolded herself for allowing emotions to take hold of her and firmly pushed them aside. The hospital was overflowing with death at the moment, and she knew that the only way to stop herself from going mad would be to remain detached. She swiped at her watering eyes impatiently before briskly exiting the room.

Just as the door clicked shut, a pair of startlingly emerald orbs pierced the room.

* * *

Lily Evans swallowed a large gulp of air desperately, as though she had been submerged under water for a long time. Her upper body shot up instantly and her eyes flitted anxiously around the room.

Lily could feel her brain pulsing painfully from the overload of senses. Images sliced through her head, trying to recall the memories from just before she lost consciousness. Her mind was attempting to make sense of an overwhelming amount of things all at once, and she instinctively knew that she would go into shock if she didn't get it under control.

Having always been a natural at self-preservation, she immediately squeezed her eyes shut and with all the energy she could muster, she picked out the single most important thought that was running through her chaotic mind. Lily let this thought take over, screaming it until all the others backed off and locked themselves away.

 _Where am I?_ she thought, repeating the question over and over again.

Her heart beat and breathing immediately began to steady now that she had regained control of her own senses. She opened her eyes slowly and carefully surveyed the room, still clinging onto that one question until it was resolved.

It did not take her long to figure it out. The answer lay right beside her on top of a cabinet by her bed. She picked up the parchment and her eyes were instantly drawn to the top where it read: St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries - Medical Progress Report.

Her eyes trailed down a little further and she quickly determined that she was a patient, and had been for nearly two weeks.

Lily's petite, freckled nose scrunched in confusion at this information.

 _Two weeks?_ she thought incredulously. _Why can't I remember any of it? What happened?_

As these questions swept through her, she felt the locked doors in her mind tremble violently. Emotions of sadness and anger were infiltrating her body, but she refused to allow herself to remember _why_ she was experiencing these emotions. She knew she was not ready yet, and she had a strong suspicion that she would never be ready.

 _First things first,_ Lily thought, _I need to know what's wrong with me._

With that, she looked back down at the medical report and tried to determine the seriousness of her condition. The page, however, was filled with lots of complicated symbols and medical terms that she didn't understand, and she quickly concluded that her best bet was to speak to one of the healers.

She looked around the room for any clues on how she could get the medical staffs attention. Before she had the chance to find the call button however, the door to the little hospital room was opened and two people walked in.

"There has been no change, Albus. I'm afraid we'll have to free this room tomorrow," said the healer who had checked up on Lily earlier.

"I understand. It is such a shame when one so young -," Albus cut off abruptly, staring at Lily Evans in shock.

The healer, who was still looking at Albus, turned to see what had caused him to freeze mid-sentence. When she saw the red haired girl sitting up in bed and looking quite healthy, she screamed in fright and backed away as though she had seen an inferi.

"I - I - impossible!" she finished with a squeak, looking as though she might faint.

"I'm sorry. I don't really know whats going on," Lily said sheepishly to the two adults who were staring at her dumbfounded.

Albus Dumbledore, Lily's head teacher, was the first to recover. He turned to the petrified healer and beamed brightly.

"Well, Diane, I think we have just witnessed our first miracle," he said jovially. "I've always wanted to see one. Haven't you?"

Diane didn't reply, in fact, it is unlikely that she had even heard what the eccentric wizard had said.

Noticing the healer's fragile state, Albus gently steered her towards the door, "Go take a moment to recover yourself."

The healer left in a daze, her eyes wide and muttering to herself frantically. Albus smiled with amusement as he watched the woman totter off in a zig-zag down the hospital corridor. As soon as she was out of sight, he turned his pale grey eyes towards Lily.

"Well, Miss Evans, I knew you were talented but this is a whole new level," chuckled Albus Dumbledore. "Alas, if I were to expect this from anyone, it would be you."

Lily smiled at the professor, despite not really understanding what he was talking about.

"Professor," she began hesitantly, "Am I - am I okay?"

The older man's chuckles died instantly and his eyes hardened. He looked at the young girl seriously for a few moments, his jaw tensing with uncertainty.

"Do you feel okay?" he asked.

"I feel fine," she replied slowly, "I'm not in pain or anything - but I get the impression that it was serious."

Albus nodded gravely, "It certainly seemed so. You have always had a knack for getting out of tricky situations however."

"I'm just worried that - whatever was wrong with me - do you think it will come back?" she asked, avoiding her professor's gaze and looking down at her hands.

"I am almost certain that it won't. The healers will obviously want to do some tests, but I tend to have a sense for these things."

"A sense for what things?" questioned Lily curiously.

"You have learnt about auras in your Divination classes I suppose?"

Lily nodded in assent, wondering what all of this could possibly have to do with auras.

"I have a gift for being able to feel them - and they give out a lot of information about a person. For instance, the nature of someones health. I do not sense any ill health from your aura anymore. Although, of course, this is a very imprecise branch of magic and we should wait and see what your test results come up with."

"Do you know why it just," Lily paused, searching for the right word. "Disappeared?"

Albus Dumbledore was quiet for a few moments before replying, "I have my suspicions."

Lily leaned forward slightly in anticipation, "What are they?"

"Fate, Miss Evans. We all have our roles to play and magic always finds a way to make sure we play them."

Lily sat in silence as she processed this. As much as she found the concept of destiny and fate interesting, she had always chalked it up to romantic nonsense that only had a place in philosophical debates. She was surprised that Professor Dumbledore, who had always seemed to express a distaste for all things Divination, would come up with such a whimsical explanation.

 _Oh well,_ she thought, _the reason doesn't really matter._

"Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore interrupted her musings, "I'm sorry to ask - but do you remember what happened?"

"I think I do," she replied. "I'm just - I've kind of shut it away for now."

Albus looked at her appraisingly, "I see. I think that is a smart move. For now at least."

Lily offered the professor a small smile before looking back down at her hands. She looked at her nails which had still managed to retain some of the blue nail polish after everything that happened in the past few weeks. A memory of Lily and her mother sitting on the sofa painting their nails together and having a glass of wine flashed through her mind. She felt a sudden nagging at her brain at the thought of her mother.

"Where are my parents?" she asked suddenly. "And Petunia?"

Albus Dumbledore hesitated nervously "Petunia is living with her fiance. Your parents - I'm so sorry, Lily - but they -"

Lily felt as though a dam had broken free inside of her. Hot tears invaded her eyes, blearing the room and her professor. _She remembered._

"No," she gasped, clutching at her heart. Memories seared through her brain at lightning speed.

 _Flashes of light everywhere_

 _Blood-curdling screams_

 _Laughter_

 _Emotionless, cold laughter_

"MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed at the startled professor.

"Lily - deep breaths," he began but the raging girl cut him off.

"Please," she begged desperately, "I don't want to know how - I don't want to know how it happened."

She tried desperately to push back the memories but her resolve had been weakened by the revelation of her parents death.

"Please," she sobbed, her shoulders sagging from the effort.

Albus Dumbledore watched Lily as she sobbed hysterically, her whole body shaking with profound and unspeakable grief. He wanted to help her, to remove at least some of the pain, but he was unsure as to whether he had the right to do so. Lily was only his student after all, and the ethics of performing the task she was asking of him was extremely questionable.

Alas, the realisation that Lily Evans was now alone in the world was enough to convince the professor that it was the right thing to do.

"Are you sure?" asked Dumbledore sadly.

"Yes," she whimpered. "Hurry."

Albus took his wand out of the sleeve of his cloak and slowly raised it until the point grazed her wild, coppery hair.

"I am going to leave behind the facts" he said in barely more than a whisper, "the fact that your parents were killed by death eaters and that you were tortured -"

"No!" pleaded the young girl shakily. "Take it all. I don't want any of it!"

"I will, however -" continued the professor as though Lily had not interrupted him, "take away the details."

Dumbledore's wand emitted a green light as he murmured the words: "Obliviate."

The light snaked its way into her ear and disappeared. When it reemerged, silvery strands were entwining themselves around the green light. Dumbledore produced a small vial from one of the many pockets of his cloaks, and held it out so that the green and silver strands could enter it. He quickly pushed a stopper on the top to ensure that the memory remained inside.

"Here," he said, holding the vial out to Lily. "This is yours for when you need it."

Lily kept her arms firmly by her sides, and regarded the vial with disgust. She no longer remembered precisely why she hated the contents of the vial, but the feelings it had brought still burned within her.

"I will never want them," she growled lowly.

When Lily continued to refuse the memory, Albus carefully put the vial into one of his pockets.

"I will keep it safe for you," he said before getting up to leave.

Just as he was closing the door behind him, he looked back at the girl who was staring blankly into space.

"Miss Evans," he called to get her attention.

She jumped a little at the sound of her name and turned towards the headmaster, her eyes straining from the tears that were being held back.

"I am deeply sorry for everything. You will always have someone to talk to at Hogwarts."

With that, he closed the door gently and left Lily Evans to grieve the death of her parents in peace.


	2. Chapter 2 - Order of the Phoenix

A/N: Hello again! Thank you to those who have followed/favourite(d) my story so far. I hope you all enjoy the second chapter.

 **Story rating:** M (violence, language and mild sexual references)

 **Chapter rating:** T (reference to violence but no graphic description, mild language)

 **Disclaimer:** All characters, settings and the general fantasy world belong to JK Rowling. I claim no ownership or profits whatsoever. The only purpose of this story is for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of those who visit this site.

* * *

Lily Evans sat cross legged on the floor beside her suitcase, frowning at the neatly stacked piles surrounding her. At precisely 4:45 am, Lily had awoken in a state of panic, and had began the biggest packing frenzy of her life. She had divided everything she owned into categories of use, and now all of those categories lay on the floor taking up every inch of space.

 _How am I going to fit all of this into my suitcase?_ she thought helplessly, looking around at the mess she had created.

It was the same issue every year. Lily always failed to remember that she was in dire need of upsizing the trunk she had owned since her first year at Hogwarts. She groaned inwardly as she remembered that it had taken several undetectable extension charms, plus a couple of rucksacks, to get everything home for the summer. Lily was not looking forward to carrying it all to the train station without magic.

A determined expression crossed her heart-shaped face, as she resolved to begin the seemingly impossible task of packing. She began to leap gracefully across the floor, artfully dodging the flying objects that she sent zooming towards the trunk. Her petite, slender frame weaved and twirled, as the magical energy caused her copper hair to suspend around her.

One would never suspect that the girl dancing around the room was, in actual fact, terribly clumsy. Lily Evans had always had issues with her coordination and balance, to the point where walking down a corridor could easily turn into a death trap. Whenever she used magic, however, she was temporarily cured and became as sure-footed as a lioness.

Despite wanting to complete her packing quickly, Lily had to work more cautiously than she would have liked so as not to wake her still-sleeping friends.

After Lily had been released from St Mungo's with a clean bill of health, she had decided to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the remainder of the summer holidays. Marlene McKinnon and Mary Macdonald, her two best friends, had chosen to join her for the final week, seeing as Lily had refused to come and stay at either of their homes.

It had been quite the surprise when her two friends had turned up at the Leaky Cauldron with their suitcases, and both declaring that they would be staying in her room. At first, Lily had been annoyed - she had made it perfectly clear in her letters that she wanted to be left alone. It wasn't until her friends had forced their company on her however, that she realised that alone time was the last thing she needed.

Just as Lily was squishing the final thing into her trunk, a gold diary with a lion prowling around the cover, the sun was just beginning to peak in through the wall-length window. She got up and pointed her wand at the bulging trunk.

"Colloportus!"

An odd squelching noise sounded to signal that the trunk had been sealed shut. Lily beamed and did a little victory jig on the spot.

"Lily," a voice groaned from behind her, penetrating the silent room, "what are you doing?"

Lily jumped violently and yelped in shock. She turned towards Marlene's bed, clutching her frantically beating heart and holding an accusatory glare in place.

"Merlin! You gave me a fright."

Marlene merely yawned in response and ruffled her choppy, black hair. The girl sat up in her bed, swaying dangerously as she silently battled to keep herself awake. Lily's glare swiftly melted into a look of amusement as she watched her friend's head flop forwards and then instantly jerk back again, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Need some help there, Marlene?" smirked Lily.

Marlene shook her head vigorously, blinking several times. She forced herself out of the bed and into a standing position before her eyes could droop shut again.

"Shower," she grunted, trudging lethargically past Lily with her arms swinging low like a gorilla.

Lily chuckled to herself before turning towards the other sleeping beauty. She walked over to Mary's bed and leant down to gently shake her shoulders.

"Time to get up, oh-sleepy-one."

Mary, who had the most amicable relationship with the early hours out of the three girls, gave a delicate sigh as her topaz eyes slowly fluttered open. Her neatly shaped eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion, as her brain worked to clear the sleepy fog that resided there. After a few moments of allowing her brain to ease itself back into the real world, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, letting her dark blond hair fall in front of her shoulders in the process.

"Morning, Lily," she said softly, raising her arms up in the air and stretching out her willowy figure. "How long have you been up?"

"Since quarter to five," muttered Lily. "I couldn't go back to sleep, but now I feel like I could sleep for England. Sods law I suppose."

Mary smiled tiredly, "You _always_ sleep for England."

Lily raised her eyebrows mockingly, "I've recently been named their star player, didn't y'know? My talent has finally been recognised."

"I am so happy for you," Mary replied sarcastically. "Now leave me alone so I can organise my brain."

"Ouch!" exclaimed Lily dramatically, holding a hand to her chest, "is that any way to treat a friend who saved you from the perils of sleeping in?"

"You're right," sighed Mary seriously, "what I meant to say was BUGGER OFF!"

Lily fixed her friend with a disapproving stare and worked hard to keep from smiling, "You will rue the day that you took my noble and kind deeds for granted. Rue I tell you!"

Just as the two girls burst out laughing at their own silliness, Marlene exited the bathroom and regarded them grumpily. In Marlene's world, it was considered a prisonable offense to laugh or smile before 10am.

"Oh. My turn," said Mary brightly as she bounced out of bed and made her way towards the vacant bathroom.

Lily watched as the tall girl skipped gracefully across the room, envious of her excellent posture and the way her smooth hair fell neatly to the small of her back. It was a wonder that Mary had alluded the claws of model scouts for as long as she had with those large, almond-shaped eyes and high, prominent cheekbones. Alas, Mary had no interest in the modelling business - her passion lay with getting her hands nice and dirty with a spot of gardening.

When Mary had disappeared into the bathroom, Lily allowed her eyes to wander to her other friend.

"Wow, Marlene! Planning on breaking a few hearts today?" asked Lily, taking in her friends attire for the first day back at Hogwarts.

Marlene Mckinnon had styled her short, choppy hair so that it spiked in all directions, complementing her pixie-like face. Her amber eyes were decorated with a light dusting of beige eyeshadow, and her lips were stained with a minimal amount of red lipstick. For clothing, she wore a pretty summer dress, in comparison to the usual baggy jumpers and loose-fitting jeans she adopted. Lily was not used to seeing Marlene, the closest thing to a tomboy in their little group, put so much effort into her appearance.

At Lily's exclamation of approval, Marlene blushed in embarrassment, but her lips quirked upwards nonetheless.

"Well y'know - first day back and all," she grinned, her eyes flashing with excitement. "Are you ready to put us all in our place, Miss Head Girl."

Lily laughed nervously at the reminder of her new position, and glanced shiftily at the shiny badge lying on her bedside table, "Nope. Not at all."

Marlene rolled her eyes, "Lily, I have told you a million times - you were born for this job. You were the best contender by several lightyears."

"Thanks, Marlene," she smiled appreciatively. "It just feels like a big step up from being a Prefect."

"You'll get used to it," Marlene reassured her, "before you know it, you'll be barging around the castle on a massive power trip."

"Ha!" Lily snorted. "If that ever happens I give you permission to hex me until I'm reduced to green goo."

"Deal," Marlene sniggered, "Hey - who do you think the Head Boy will be? I bet it's Remus Lupin."

"It's not Remus," grumbled Lily, "I overheard him asking Professor McGonnagall if he could be taken out of the running."

"Oh? I wonder why that is."

Lily shrugged in response, and walked towards her bed where her clothes were laid out ready for her.

"I don't care who it is," Lily said quietly, "as long as it's not Snape."

* * *

A few hours later, Lily, Mary and Marlene were sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, finally on their way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their final year.

Lily sighed with relief as she flopped onto one of the cushioned seats, closing her eyes tightly and inhaling the magical energy that laced the air. She found herself being able to breathe easy again, now that she was reentering the world in which she truly belonged. Of course, Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron had given her a satisfactory fix, but there was nothing so rich and electrifying as the atmosphere of Hogwarts.

"Our final year," said Mary nostalgically, looking around the compartment as though she was trying to commit every little detail to memory. "Where has the time gone?"

"It needs to slow the bloody well down," mumbled Lily.

"Are you kidding?" Marlene scoffed, "I can't wait to leave. You know - we should all go travelling after we've graduated."

"And then move in together?" added Mary hopefully.

Marlene nodded enthusiastically, "Of course. Hasn't that always been the plan?"

Lily felt a little bubble of joy swell in her stomach at her friends' words. Since her parents death she had given a lot of thought to life after Hogwarts, and had secretly worried that her two friends wouldn't be as committed to sticking together as she was. She felt her eyes prickle with tears as sudden gratitude swept through her.

Luckily, at that moment there was a knock on their compartment door, and Lily used the distraction to wipe her eyes free of any tears. The door rattled open noisily to reveal an elderly lady, who was pushing a cart full of Honeydukes sweets and Hogwarts merchandise.

"Anything off the trolley, dears? she chirped cheerfully, smiling pleasantly at the three girls.

They placed their orders, buying more than enough to last them until their first Hogsmeade visit. After the trolley witch had left, Lily wasted no time in opening a pack of treacle fudge - she couldn't get enough of the things.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Mary suddenly, effectively distracting Lily from the heavenly fudge melting in her mouth. "They've done it again."

Lily looked over at Mary who was reading the Daily Prophet she had just bought, a look of fierce concentration on her face.

"What is it, Mary? Death Eaters?" asked Lily, feeling bile rise up her throat at the thought of her parents' murderers.

"No, no," muttered Mary distractedly, "the other ones."

"Seriously?" gasped Marlene, scooting over to Mary and peering over her shoulder. "Who was it this time?"

"Billius Lestrange."

Lily watched the exchange in confusion. She wondered what Mary could have meant by 'the other ones', and hoped it wasn't what it sounded like. Lily, being muggleborn, didn't think her chances of survival would be very good if there were two groups of pureblood fanatics out there.

"Guys, what's going on?" asked Lily fearfully.

Mary and Marlene both looked up at Lily in astonishment.

"Have you not been reading the papers?" asked Marlene incredulously.

"Not recently," admitted Lily. "Why?"

"Well," began Mary, leaning forwards excitedly, "there is this secret group going around - nobody knows who they are - but they call themselves the Order of the Phoenix."

"And what are they doing exactly?"

"They kill Death Eaters," replied Mary, her eyes sparkling.

Lily raised an eyebrow at her friend, "So they are like Aurors then?"

Marlene snorted at this, "Definitely not. Yes, Aurors can kill Death Eaters, but only if it is in defense. These guys - they kill how the Death Eaters kill."

"They hunt them down like animals," added Alice, a venomous smile spreading across her lips, "and slaughter them."

"Merlin, I wish I knew how to join," said Marlene breathlessly, her eyes glazed.

"Me too," Mary nodded in agreement.

Lily stared at her friends in shock. She had never seen them act so - well - _Slytherin._

"You guys are kidding right?" Lily said aghast, "that's sick. They are murderers."

"The Death Eaters deserve it though, Lily," Mary argued.

"Yeah," Marlene cut in, "they shouldn't be allowed to live after what they have done."

"But still, is cold-blooded murder really the answer?" questioned Lily in a low voice.

"It isn't a perfect answer," conceded Mary, "but have they really left us much choice?"

"Maybe not," said Lily, "but I am certain that it will cause more harm than good."

"Well lets not argue about it," Mary waved a hand dismissively and quickly changed the subject. "Lets talk about something more interesting like -"

"Which guys have blossomed over the summer?" Marlene offered, grinning cheekily.

Lily rolled her eyes, "As intellectually stimulating as that sounds, I should probably start heading to the prefects carriage."

"Good luck," supplied Marlene.

"I shall very much need it," Lily grimaced, standing up and walking towards the exit. "See you later!"

"See you, Lily!" they chimed in unison, just as Lily closed the compartment door shut.

As soon as her friends were obscured from view, she allowed a worried frown to infiltrate her face.

 _Well that was weird,_ she thought, wandering idly down the train corridor.

Lily was confused by the bitterness and hate with which her friends' had talked about Voldemort and his supporters. Of course, they had always been against Voldemort's evil agenda, but it was quite something else to act genuinely excited by the prospect of hunting and slaughtering Death Eaters. They had always been quite naive and innocent in their views of the world up until now, and Lily wondered what had changed while she was looking the other way.

As she reached the prefects carriage, she gave her head a slight shake to rid it of any distracting thoughts. She then took a deep breath before opening the door to the prefects compartment.

"Hey, Lily. It's nice to see you again."

Lily jumped slightly, not having expected anyone to be there yet. She looked towards the source of the voice to find Remus Lupin, smiling shyly up at her from his seat.

"Thanks, Remus. Nice to see you too," she stepped forwards to give him a quick hug. "Good holiday?"

"Relaxing but uneventful," he replied simply.

Lily noted how he didn't ask about her holiday in return, and silently awarded him brownie points for it. Remus had always been a natural at saying the right things and steering clear of the wrong, a talent of his that Lily was secretly envious of. She hoped that everybody had the sense to act like Remus: with tact and thoughtfulness. In a school full of dramatic, socially awkward teenagers however, she didn't hold much hope of that.

In the corner of the carriage sat another young man, his hazel eyes boring into the voluminous book that lay in his lap. Dishevelled, smoky-black hair stuck out in all directions, made all the more untidy by the hand that regularly swept through it.

Lily found her gaze drawn to him, her eyes trailing over his serious, strong face, and down to his lean and muscular physique. It wasn't his obvious attractiveness that caught her attention however, so much as the mystery that surrounded him. James Potter was, quite frankly, a bit of an enigma.

He only had three _real_ friends, those being Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Now, having only three close friends isn't particularly unusual - Lily herself only had two. What was unusual, however, was that he spent at least 99.9 percent of all his social interactions with _only_ them. It was a rare thing indeed to catch James Potter speaking with anyone outside his close-knit group. He could have easily acquired an army of adoring acquaintances and friends, what with his good looks and exceptional talent on the Quidditch pitch, but the boy simply chose not to.

In seven years of being in the same house and sharing most of their classes together, it was a wonder that Lily had never really spoken to James Potter before. It wasn't that she purposely avoided interacting with him or anything, but rather the fact that neither had made a concerted effort to get to know each other. She mentally made a snap decision that seventh year was as good as any to break that cycle.

"Hi," she waved awkwardly at him, in an attempt to draw his attention away from the book.

James' head snapped up at the sudden movement, looking a little disorientated by the disruption. He then smiled politely at her and nodded his head in acknowledgement, before immediately returning to his book.

"So how was your holiday?" Lily asked, cringing as she dragged him away from his reading yet again.

He looked a little surprised that Lily had gone beyond a simple greeting. After all, it had never been done before in seven whole years.

"It was fine," answered James hesitantly before continuing, "I spent most of it doing work experience at the Ministry."

"That sounds cool. Which department?"

"The Auror office."

"I was going to do a bit of work experience with Ollivander at the beginning of the -" she began to tell him before coming to an abrupt stop.

She saw Remus shift uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye, but James remained perfectly composed and carried on with the conversation.

"So you are interested in Wandlore then?" he asked curiously.

Lily felt the pain in her chest release a little. She wasn't sure if James was merely unaware of her parents death, or that he excelled in glossing over potentially awkward situations. If she had to choose, she would probably go with the latter. James Potter struck her as someone who could be a _very_ good actor when he wanted to be.

"Yes," she replied, her voice a little hoarse, "very much so."

He nodded, staring at her intensely. Lily found herself intrigued by the look in his eyes, like he was trying to burn a hole right through her skull and all the way to her brain. The inside of her head began to tingle uncomfortably, and she found herself entertaining the ridiculous notion that he was trying to read her mind. She mentally pushed at the tingling sensations, and as she did so, she caught a flash of irritation cross James' eyes.

"So how come you are in here anyway?" she asked, breaking the eye contact. "Emotional support for Remus?"

He chuckled lightly at her joke, all traces of annoyance a distant memory. Lily found herself wondering if she had imagined it.

"Actually, Lily," Remus interrupted, "James has been made Head Boy."

Lily's mouth opened slightly in shock. She looked at Remus questioningly, before turning her gaze back to James and allowing it to drift down to his broad chest where a Head Boy badge was pinned.

"But you -" she paused, her eyes moving back up to his face, "you weren't a prefect."

James shrugged, "Apparently it's not a requirement. Remus didn't want the job, so they asked me."

"Oh, I see. Well if you have any questions about what to do and all-" she trailed off tentatively.

"I'll know who to ask," he finished, flashing her a smirk and a casual wink.

Lily smiled uncertainly back at him, feeling wrong-footed by his sudden shift in demeanour. Not being able to think of anything else to say to either of the two boys, she took a seat and pretended to peruse the notes she had brought along for the meeting.

It was not long before the other prefects began to filter into the cabin, and the meeting was soon under way. Everybody was just as surprised as Lily to find out that James Potter had been made Head Boy, but their doubts were quickly scattered when they found him to be both self-assured and knowledgeable.

Lily found herself watching her counterpart carefully. In truth, she felt a little on edge around him. There were several reasons for this - some of which she was perfectly aware of, and others that her mind couldn't comprehend. The overriding impression, however, was that she found him to be slightly intimidating. Everything from his carefully planned words to his shielded eyes unnerved Lily, sending warning signals down her spine. He was too exact; too guarded; too refined.

 _There was just something odd about that Potter boy._


	3. Chapter 3 - Humpty Dumpty

A/N: The games begin... Enjoy!

 **Story rating:** M

 **Chapter rating:** M (mild blood and gore, mild language, dark theme)

 **Disclaimer:** All characters, settings and the general fantasy world belong to JK Rowling. I claim no ownership or profits whatsoever. The only purpose of this story is for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of those who visit this site. The rhyme at the end of the chapter (Humpty Dumpty) does not belong to me either - although I added some of my own words/lyrics.

* * *

 _Rain spilled from the heavy, dark clouds, gushing down in silvery sheets. Water pounded relentlessly against the ground, stomping down on the grass maliciously. Gurgling mud slopped and slithered along, rapidly conquering the large plot of grass._

 _Blinding sparks flashed menacingly in the sky, their spidery claws scratching at the darkness. A man was suddenly revealed in its glare, and the wind advanced upon him mercilessly._

 _He sobbed, stumbling in his panic as he floundered through the storm towards the Forbidden Forest. Shadows crept behind him slowly, taking pleasure in the hunt._

 _His body was covered in gashes, clean and sharp so that the blood seeped out deliciously. The shadows wanted to lick it up; to taste it; to become entwined with their victim._

 _The man tripped over a root, his wand flying out into the black abyss. His only protection had deserted him and his body shuddered into submission, fisting his hands into the mud in one final attempt to cling onto the world. He whimpered, scrunching his eyes shut and waiting for the inevitable._

 _A piercing scream slashed into the night._

* * *

It was the first day of term and Lily was running late. She sat in front of the wall-length mirror in her bedroom, speedily pulling her wavy hair into a loose ponytail.

"Beautiful, deary," chimed a sing-song voice, "but you _really_ need to do something about those freckles."

Lily scrunched her nose in response and stuck out her tongue for good measure. She giggled as the mirror gasped in outrage.

"Such behaviour from a young lady!"

After she had finished with her hair, she stood up and waltzed over to the wardrobe - the heart and soul of her new bedroom. It was the most beautiful piece of furniture that Lily had ever seen, with images of dragons and other mystical beings carved into it, their bodies swirling in the polished wood. The wardrobe seemed to give off an electrifying aura that caused Lily's skin to prickle whenever she got close to it. Lily made a mental note to do some tests on it at some point, positive that it must hold some mysterious properties beneath it's glossy surface.

 _Perhaps it could transport me to another realm_ , she thought wistfully, her mind wandering to faraway lands where war did not exist.

As much as Lily loved being a part of the magical world, it had brought her an immense amount of pain in the last year. Her very existence had caused so much trouble without her even having to lift a dainty, little finger. Lily knew that, if she were ever presented the choice, she would exchange her magic for a life of peace.

A light knock at the door promptly put a stop to Lily's daydreaming. She went to the door and opened it, wondering whether her friends had somehow made their way into the heads dormitory. Instead of Mary or Marlene, however, she found James Potter standing there, looking as though he was in a bit of a rush himself.

"Hey," he greeted her, his eyes widening slightly as though he hadn't expected anyone to answer, "I thought you'd have gone already."

"I slept in," admitted Lily, cocking her head to the side and regarding him curiously.

 _Why is he here?_ she wondered. Personally, Lily did not feel that one conversation in seven years was enough to justify James Potter standing outside her bedroom door. She pondered over the possibility of whether he had social issues.

"Me too," he cut across her musings, "Are you ready?"

Lily blinked at him. "Ready?

"Well yeah," he said slowly, looking at her as though it was obvious.

"Oh right," she breathed, surprised that he had assumed they would be leaving together on the mornings. "Just a second."

Lily hurried over to the side of her bed to grab her bag and wand. She then summoned the text books she needed from her bookshelf and shoved them into her bag.

"Right," she said, "Lets go."

"As you wish, Miss Evans," he replied smoothly, holding out an arm for her.

She looked at him as though he had sprouted antlers.

"Erm, no thanks," she said politely, referring to the overly grand gesture.

He laughed and winked at her, "Suit yourself."

They both walked down the small staircase that connected the Head Girl's bedroom with the shared living space. The head's common room was overly large for just two people, but Lily liked the fact that there was enough room to swing a cat - not that she would ever partake in such activity, but it was nice to have the option nonetheless.

Nearly everything in the room was decorated with a red and gold colour scheme, in recognition of Lily's and James' Gryffindor roots. Lily thought that this was a nice touch, and it made her feel as though she was still connected to her house in spite of the separate living quarters.

Against the back wall was a fireplace, outlined by an ornate mantlepiece where a small statue of a lion prowled back and forth across the top. A small sofa and several mismatched armchairs surrounded the fire, similar to the set-up of the Gryffindor common room. In the centre of the room, there was also a large oak table with lots of plum-coloured chairs dotted around it - Lily supposed this was to provide them with their own study area.

Her most favourite thing about the common room, by several galaxies, was the enormous bookshelf that covered an entire wall. Lily loved to read, and had spent most of her first night scouring the shelves and forming a list of the ones she wanted to finish by Christmas - an admittedly long list.

Lily and James exited through a portrait of an eccentric-looking wizard, who was busy concocting a complicated-looking potion. The portrait connected them to the main corridor and they walked down it towards the Great Hall. As they reached the entrance of the Great Hall, they saw swarms of students who were already filing out, making their way to their first lessons.

"Do you think we have time to quickly grab something?" asked James longingly, echoing the exact thought that had just been running through Lily's mind.

Before Lily could answer, the bell rang to signal the five minute warning for the start of first period.

"Damn it," James swore quietly, glaring at the well-fed students as they passed him.

The petite redhead abruptly stopped walking and swung her blue, canvas rucksack in front of her. She delved inside, biting her tongue in concentration as she rummaged around the mess of books, and eventually pulled out two packets of treacle fudge. Lily always made sure to pack emergency snacks into her school bag on a morning - she was just resourceful that way.

"Want one?" she asked, holding a vivid-green packet out to him.

"Are you sure?" he questioned excitedly, taking it from her as carefully as though it were the Holy Grail itself.

He immediately ripped the package open and wasted no time in taking a bite.

"Mmmm," he groaned after swallowing the first piece, his eyes closed as he savoured the taste. "I could kiss you right now."

Lily stepped away from him slightly, unable to stop the blush from spreading across her cheeks. She was painfully aware that a few people had overheard James' little comment, and she cringed when one or two sniggers reached her ears.

 _Mental note to self,_ thought Lily, _never give James Potter food ever again._

"I'll hex you if you do," Lily threatened.

"I would like to see you try," James shot back, his eyes glinting mischievously.

Their walk slowed to a stop as they reached the classroom where the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was about to take place. Lily loitered in the doorway, searching the classroom for Mary and Marlene. When she spotted them, she walked over to the front desk where they were sitting.

"See you later, Lily," James called after her.

"Bye, weirdo," she muttered under her breath once she was safely out of hearing range.

The final bell rang just as Lily plonked herself down onto the stool next to Marlene. She quickly greeted her friends before turning her attention to Professor Greene, who's booming voice was already reverberating around the classroom.

"Good morning, class. I trust you all had a relaxing summer?" he paused, giving the students a moment to respond to his question. Some merely nodded their heads or smiled in his direction, whereas others muttered quiet responses.

"Fantastic!" he beamed, his crooked teeth only just visible under the handlebar moustache. "Well then, as you all know, we still have two more topics to complete before your final examination. "

He swished his wand and pieces of paper appeared on each student's desk.

"This terms topic will be on dark creatures. In front of you, you will find a module outline which gives you an overview of what you will be learning, plus details on how you will be marked. I shall give you five minutes to read through this information before we set to work on the first creature."

Loud rustling filled the room as everybody picked up the pieces of parchment that had just appeared on their desks. Lily was feeling quite excited about starting a new topic and pulled the parchment towards her eagerly to begin reading:

 **DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS**

 **NEWTS PROGRAMME OF STUDY - DARK CREATURES**

 **Summary:**

The purpose of this module is to develop your knowledge of a wide range of dark creatures. You will learn how to defend yourselves against them effectively and safely, using your understanding of a creatures strengths and weaknesses. This topic will be worth 20% of your overall mark.

 **Assignment information:**

1) A written paper on a dark creature of your choice

The paper must include:

. General information - physicality, temperament, habitat, diet

. A description of why the creature is considered 'dark'

. Strengths and weaknesses of the creature

. 3-4 defensive spells and an explanation of why these are effective

Weighting: 50% of module mark.

2) Practical examination - defence against dark creatures

Examiners will be looking for:

. Efficient and effective spell use

. Confident decision-making

. Safe practice

. The ability to stay calm under pressure

Weighting: 50% of module mark

When the five minutes were up, the Professor called the class back to attention.

"Does anybody have any questions about what they've just read?" he asked, peering around the room in search of any uncertain or puzzled faces. "No? Right then. The first creature we will be looking at is a glymp."

The greying professor performed a zig-zag motion with his wand, which caused an image of a glymp to appear on the chalkboard. Lily resisted the temptation to scrunch her face in disgust, as she observed the evil-looking creature with sagging skin and beady, blood-red eyes.

"Can anybody tell me what a glymp is, and what it is known for? Mr Lupin?" he pointed towards the back of the room.

"It is an elf-like creature that harvests the blood of witches and wizards. They use the blood to increase their own magical powers," Remus answered.

"Well done, Mr Lupin. 10 points to Gryffindor. Now let's see," the professor paused here and smoothed out his moustache thoughtfully. "Speaking of their similarity with elves, does anyone know how to spot the different between the two?"

A girl from Hufflepuff, sitting at the opposite side of the classroom, tentatively raised her hand to answer the question.

"Yes, Miss Davies?"

"Its the eyes - I think," she said uncertainly, "don't glymps have smaller eyes that are red?"

The professor nodded encouragingly, "That is certainly one of the differences. Ten points. One other difference is that a glymp has a green tinge to their skin, whereas elves do not."

He stopped there and made a sharp jab with his wand. The picture disappeared from the board and was replaced with a brief description of a glymp. Lily quickly got a piece of parchment and a quill out of her rucksack and copied the information down.

"We are now going to move on to a glymp's weaknesses -"

Lily's hand darted into the air, preempting the question that was to come. Professor Greene chuckled at Lily's readiness and motioned for her to take over.

"A glymp's weakness is electricity, sir."

"Can you tell us why?" the professor prompted.

"The unnatural mixing of blood means that the molecule bonds are weak. If you used an electricity spell, the bonds would easily break because of the aggressive vibrations, eventually causing them to fry from the inside," answered Lily confidently.

"Excellent, Miss Evans! Another ten points for Gryffindor."

He jabbed his wand into the air again, and Lily's answer appeared on the board word for word. Lily hesitated before copying it down, feeling rather silly at quoting herself in her lesson notes.

"For todays and tomorrows lesson, you will be learning a variety of electricity spells that could be used to defend yourself against a glymp. You will be practising on each other, so please refrain from placing too much power behind the spells. The first one I want you to practise is Erangio."

The phonetic pronunciation of the spell appeared on the board: Eh-rang-ee-oh.

"The wand movement is as follows. Watch carefully now."

Professor Greene performed the wand movement slowly, before magicking a visual representation onto the board. He then clapped his hands twice, causing all of the desks to disappear.

"To work!" he boomed, and the students immediately began to form into groups.

Lily, Marlene and Mary practised in a three, taking it in turns to electrocute each other. It didn't take long for all three girls to perfect the spell, and they spent most of the class chatting amongst themselves whenever the professor was looking the other way.

It seemed as though only seconds had passed when the bell rang for the end of the first period. The rest of Lily's day continued in the same vein, her lessons flying by in a surreal blur, and her head already buzzing with thoughts of exams and coursework. Although she was happy to be back at Hogwarts, Lily predicted many a headache in her future.

* * *

Lily was physically and mentally drained once the time finally came round to dinner. She looked around the Great Hall dreamily, feeling as though she was watching the scene from behind the veil of another world. Candles floated idly by her, their flames dancing erratically. Lily watched the flickering fire and felt her eyes droop slightly, exhaustion creeping upwards through her body.

The exhaustion was soon replaced with shock when Marlene clapped loudly in front of her face.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Lily angrily, nearly falling backwards off the bench.

"I was talking to you but you were in Lily land."

"Oh, well in that case," Lily replied sarcastically, glowering at her friend.

"As I was saying," Marlene began with an amused smile, "it was interesting to see you and James coming into class together this morning."

Lily looked down at her food and stabbed at a roast potato moodily, "you clapped in my face for that?"

Mary patted Lily on the back, "Now, now Lily. Don't dwell on the past."

"Whatever," Lily grunted, irritation seething in her stomach.

"So," Marlene prompted, "what's he like?"

Lily stared at the roast beef on her plate with such intensity, that one would think she was trying to dissect the meaning of life from it's meaty strands. Eventually, she looked up at Marlene, a perplexed look on her face.

"He is okay, I suppose," said Lily thoughtfully. "He does creep me out a bit though."

"He creeps you out? In what way?" questioned Marlene, leaning across the table eagerly.

"In a variety of ways - but mainly in the 'monster hiding under your bed' way."

Marlene looked unimpressed by Lily's assessment, and physically slumped in disappointment. Lily was not sure what Marlene had wanted to hear, but it was obvious that 'creepy' did not fit in with her wild and wonderful fantasies of the mysterious James Potter.

"He can be the monster hiding under my bed any day," Mary piped in, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Mary!" exclaimed Lily, as Marlene choked with laughter.

"What? He is unnervingly attractive."

Lily didn't respond to this but silently agreed. She found her eyes drifting down the table to where James was sitting, currently in conversation with Sirius Black. As though sensing that someone was looking at him, he turned around and caught her eye.

She felt her face flush slightly at being caught but, despite the embarrassment, she found herself unwilling to look away. He smiled lightly at her and mouthed 'hello'. Lily smiled and waved back at him, before forcing herself to turn away. Try as she may, she couldn't quite concentrate on her friends' conversation after that - too much of her energy was being spent on controlling those pesky wandering eyes of hers.

As the end of dinner approached, several strange things happened.

Just as Lily's plate of food had disappeared, a barn owl swooped down and settled in front of her. The appearance of the owl was a shock in itself, due to the fact that post was usually delivered in the mornings. The second shock came when it released a single rose from its claws before promptly taking off again.

The rose was a beautiful red-orange colour, not far from the shade of Lily's own hair. It had no thorns along its smooth stem, and Lily was surprised to see no marks showing where they once existed. Midway up the stem, a small piece of parchment was held in place by a blue velvety ribbon.

She unfastened the ribbon, picked up the note and read:

 _Our gift to you._

Lily frowned. It was such a short and ambiguous message, clearly meant to keep her up at night. She turned it over in search of more writing, but not even a stray ink splodge could be found.

 _Well that's interesting,_ she thought _._

She looked up to tell Mary and Marlene about her interesting gift, but the words died in her mouth when she noticed that they were both fixated on something across the hall. In fact, now that Lily was paying attention, she became acutely aware that everyone was looking in the same direction.

Lily followed the line of attention curiously, stopping when it reached the Slytherin table. Being quite small, Lily couldn't quite make out what people were staring at behind the mass of heads. She was just about to ask Mary what was happening, when an eeiree voice suddenly filled the room.

 _Cygnus Black was feeling quite sore_

Screams suddenly erupted from the Slytherin table, as though the resounding voice had kickstarted time again. Lily immediately stood up and rushed towards the table to see what was happening, drawing her wand as she went.

 _He had bloody gushing from every pore_

As she approached, she spotted what the source of the trouble was. All eyes were focused on three students - Severus Snape, Carina Avery and Cepheus Mulciber. In front of each of them sat an opened box, and whatever was inside these boxes seemed to be causing them great distress. She wondered what terrors the boxes contained.

 _Voldemort's horses and Voldemort's men_

Lily warily walked towards Mulciber, who was nearest to her, and peered over his shoulder. She felt faint at the sight, and nausea built rapidly within her.

 _Good luck putting Cygnus together again_

The world faded into black.

* * *

A/N: I hope people understand what happened there in the end. I was going for subtle, but I'm not sure if I crossed the line into EH?! territory.

Now a question for you lovely readers: The thing I find most challenging about writing is progressing the story whilst still making sure it flows. If anyone has any tips, or better yet wants to be my beta to help with this, please PM me.

Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4 - Oh, the audacity!

**A/N:** I must admit, I did let this story fall by the wayside. It was a nice surprise to find a few reviews and additional follows/favourites when I checked it the other day, and it has reignited my passion for writing it! So, here you go!

 **Story rating:** M

 **Chapter rating:** M (physical violence/mild torture, mild language, dark theme)

 **Disclaimer:** All characters, settings and the general fantasy world belong to JK Rowling. I claim no ownership or profits whatsoever. The only purpose of this story is for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of those who visit this site.

* * *

When Lily first woke up, everything was white. The bright lights of the hospital wing gushed through the narrow black pupils of her eyes, causing pain to sear through her head.

Lily grunted in pain and rolled onto her side to escape the devilish light. She lay still, listening carefully to her surroundings as she waited for the dancing blotches behind her eyelids to subside.

The first thing to pop into her head, once the vision blotches and pain no longer served as distractions, was the very last thing she happened to see before losing consciousness. Her stomach flipped violently at the memory, of seeing so much blood and more bodily insides than one would ever care to see.

Lily was not sure she would ever be able to erase the horrific image that was now seared onto her brain like a tattoo, and hoped that their was some kind of potion or spell that could push it far back into the recesses of distant memories - where the spider webs dwelled and the dust gathered by the plenty.

Before long, she picked up on the voices of her friends, Mary and Marlene, approaching. They were talking in hushed, serious voices, and Lily could not prevent her ears from pricking to attention.

"I hope she is okay," whispered Mary fretfully. "Apparently, they had to give her a sleeping potion because she woke up in a panic."

"It must have been bad. I mean - did you _see_ the look on Snape's face? I thought his face was frozen on indifference," said Marlene.

Lily felt the corner of the bed dip as one of her friends sat down. She tried to roll with the movement naturally, so that they didn't suspect that she was awake. Lily was not sure why she was pretending to be asleep, but she was now in that awkward position where one feels as though they must finish what they have begun, and so she kept up the facade. Perhaps it was the fear that her bad acting of 'waking up' would give her away.

So she listened to her friends carry on with their chatter, at first with patience and then, after ten minutes of discussing the oh-so-perfect shade of Craig O'Reily's hair, not so much. When it became clear that they did not plan on leaving any time before her unfortunate demise, she resolved to give the acting a go and 'wake up'.

Just as she had worked up the courage to flutter her eyelids open, yawn widely and stretch her body out like a panther, a new voice suddenly added itself to the mix. Curious, she pressed pause on her little plan until she found out who the newcomer was.

"Has she woken up yet?"

Lily froze. The voice was decidedly male, extremely familiar, and belonging to someone unfairly attractive. She tried not to gulp, even though her mouth had mysteriously become as dry as a year old sponge cake.

Mary and Marlene did not respond immediately, both shocked (and perhaps a little embarrassed) to find their discussion on Craig O'Reily's hair interrupted. Marlene was the first to recover, being more immune to the powers of teenage hormones and attractive maleness, of which Mary was slave to.

"Not yet," Marlene hedged, "though I think she is starting to wake up because she is moving around more."

 _Darn it!_ thought Lily. She had thought, in her really-bad-at-acting mind, that moving around would have seemed more natural. How wrong she apparently was.

"Good. Tell her not to worry about patrolling tonight if she's not feeling up to it."

Then, just as unexpectedly as he had come, he unexpectedly left after the most basic and minimal conversation Lily had ever heard. She created a picture in her mind of a scoreboard with one side saying 'normal guy' and the other saying 'creepy weirdo guy'. With her imaginary hand, that had nails painted an imaginary sunny-orange colour, she drew a single line on the 'creepy weirdo guy' side of the scoreboard.

A giggle escaped her at the silly thought, completely forgetting about how she had been pretending to be asleep. She stopped very suddenly and cringed - now she couldn't even pass it off as laughing in her sleep.

"Lily?" Mary questioned, sounding a little shocked.

Lily kept her eyes closed but answered: "Yes, my sweet?"

"You weren't even asleep were you?" exclaimed Marlene, diving suddenly on top of Lily and prodding her in the ribs through the thin duvet.

Lily laughed, squirming away from Marlene's merciless tickling-machine claws and sat up in the bed. She looked at her best friends sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders in order to convey that even _she_ thought her own behaviour was odd.

"You are such an alien," scoffed Marlene, shaking her head in wonderment.

"Would you have me any other way?" asked Lily sweetly, batting her eyes.

"Definitely not," smiled Marlene, who leaned forward to ruffle Lily's wild, red hair.

Silence ensued the hair ruffling, all knowing what was about to be talked about, but none feeling comfortable with bringing it up. Despite having spent at least half a cowardly hour pretending to be asleep, it was Lily who managed to muster up the legendary Gryffindor courage so acquainted with their house.

"So," she began uncertainly, " I suppose you want to know what I saw."

Mary and Marlene exchanged quick looks before nodding their heads at Lily in unison. Lily racked her brains on where to begin - they didn't teach you how to describe the stuff of nightmares in the daily lessons of Hogwarts. She decided that, like anything you want to avoid, you should get it out of the way as quickly as possible.

"I saw a severed head," she rushed in one breath.

"A severed head?" repeated Mary slowly, trying to digest an answer she would never have thought to expect.

"Without a body," Lily added unnecessarily.

There was another silence as Mary and Marlene tried to wrap their minds around something so terrifying.

"So - they were all sent -" Marlene paused, looking at Lily for clarification. "They were sent people's heads?"

"I don't know what were in the other boxes. I only looked in one," said Lily, trying to quell the queasy feeling beginning to build in her stomach at the memory.

"There was a poem remember," supplied Mary thoughtfully, her eyes glazed over as she teetered on the brink of understanding. "It said something like 'Good luck putting Cygnus together again'."

Lily, who had forgotten about the voice that had resounded around the Great Hall, gasped as it all came flooding back to her. Mary was right - there had been a poem and if Mary's recollection of the words were correct...

"Eww," breathed Marlene, looking as thought she was going to be sick.

"You really think - those boxes - they all were -" stuttered Mary in horror, looking at Lily with wide eyes.

"All Cygnus Black," finished Lily.

* * *

It had been three whole weeks since the incident in the Great Hall, but the corridors were still alive with whispered speculations and rumours. Lily could barely walk one step without curious eyes following her, as though hoping that she might make some kind of public announcement. Their hopes were, of course, wasted.

Lily had only told Mary and Marlene about what she had seen that night, and had been careful to keep the gruesome details to a minimum. She could tell that her friends had wanted a little more explanation than 'severed body parts', but Lily could not stomach thinking about it long enough to provide a vivid description.

Despite Lily's reluctance to talk about what she had seen, there was one fact of which everyone was certain: Cygnus Black was dead.

The news that yet another person of pureblood descent had been murdered came as a big shock to the whole wizarding community. There had always been the unspoken assumption that pure blood witches and wizards were safe, that they were untouchable. The death of the prosperous and influential Cygnus Black was, indeed, a sign of changed times.

Although Lily would never admit it openly, even to Mary or Marlene, she found herself rather enjoying this new shift in power. It wasn't that she took pleasure in seeing the pureblood elitists fearing for their lives - Lily was never one to wish that upon anybody - but rather the fact that somehow, at some unplottable point in time, the invisible barriers between social class and blood purity had disintegrated. They were all in it together, fearing for their lives in a war that favoured no one. Lily had never felt more included in the magical world than she did right then.

Just as certain as everybody was that Cygnus Black was dead, everybody was also certainly uncertain as to who had done it. Nevertheless, whispers of the Order of the Phoenix's involvement crept into the halls of Hogwarts as ivy creeps along the decaying walls of haunted castles.

Lily tried to stop herself from being sucked into the thrill of tall tales and conspiracy theories, but her efforts were in vain. She, like so very many of the Hogwarts population, spent many a night huddled with her friends asking the well tread question: Who are the Order of the Phoenix?

It was this very question that plagued her as she wandered through the dimly lit corridors of the second floor, alone. Curfew was long gone and it was, thankfully, nearing the end of her patrol slot.

The castle was eerily quiet, but Lily liked it that way. She had been secretly glad when the fifth year prefect, Eleanor Geoffrey, had cancelled on her last minute due to an impending essay deadline. Lily used the rare quiet to daydream the time away, being a girl whose head and heart belonged to the clouds.

Lily looked down at her watch and upon seeing that she had ten minutes left of her patrol, decided to walk slowly back in the direction of the Heads Common Room. When she reached the end of the second floor corridor, however, a pair of hands appeared from behind a classroom doorway and dragged her into the room.

She was pushed roughly against the wall, fingers digging painfully into her shoulders. Lily looked up to find herself faced with a person wearing a silver mask that had decorative black swirls on it.

"Don't try anything, Evans. I won't think twice about slitting your neck," a voice hissed menacingly though the pin hole where a mouth should be.

"What on earth -" cried Lily, her voice wobbling with fear.

"Shut it!" the voice spat. "We're asking the questions. Understood?"

It was then that Lily noticed another figure stood behind the first. This person was dressed exactly the same, wearing a black cloak and a mask to cover their face. In their hand, they held a jagged shard of glass towards her threateningly. The only thing that Lily could guess about either of their identities was that they were both male judging by their height and build.

She nodded mutely. Terrified.

"Who killed Billius Lestrange and Cygnus Black?" asked the person who was restraining her.

Lily started in surprise, "I - What? How would I know?"

The second figure laughed cruelly, advancing towards her, "Don't play dumb you filthy mudblood. Who did you tell? Who did you get to do your dirty work?"

He pushed the shard of glass against her arm, hard enough to cause pain but not to pierce the skin. Lily winced but managed to keep her voice steady this time.

She looked the second figure in the eye and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"We know that the Order of the Phoenix is doing this", he spat, leaning right into her face and and pressing the glass even harder against her arm. She felt a trickle of blood escape, sliding down her wrist and onto her shaking hand.

It took all of Lily's resolve to keep looking the person in the eye, whilst edging her hand closer and closer to the wand that stuck out of her jeans pocket. She knew that, with a wand, the two before her didn't stand a chance.

"You must have told them who attacked you and your pathetic muggle parents," the masked figure carried on, suddenly shoving the glass shard forcefully into her arm.

Lily screamed at the abrupt and unexpected pain, all thoughts of retrieving her wand forgotten. She slumped against the wall as panic set in, rendering her useless.

"Tell us what you know about them!" he shouted in her face, dragging her back up by the hair and forcing her eyes on his.

The door suddenly burst open, flying off it's hinges and Lily was promptly dropped to the floor. Several people rushed into the room at once, sending jets of light towards the two masked figures.

Lily watched as her perpetrators both flew across the room and crashed into the opposite wall with sickening thuds. They crumpled to the floor like rag dolls, now unconscious.

The next thing Lily knew, she was being lifted off the ground and carried out of the room. She tried feebly to get the person to put her down, batting at their arms and trying to push herself away from their chest. She was still in panic mode, and all she wanted to do was run or find a dark corner where she could hide.

"Quit it, Lily," a voice growled down at her.

Her head snapped up at the sound of James' voice and she stopped her wriggling. He looked dangerous at that moment in time, his eyes focused intently ahead as they flashed viciously.

Lily gulped. As much as she didn't want to cross James Potter when he looked to be 'ready for the kill', she just couldn't abide to be carried when she still had two functioning legs.

"I'm fine," she insisted, "can you put me down, please?"

He ignored her and carried on walking, acting as though he hadn't even heard her question. Lily was tempted to start struggling again but, being a little afraid of his reaction if she did, decided that she had had more than her share of fear for the night.

So she relented, staying as still as she could and trying to retain her personal space as much as was possible under the circumstances - unfortunately, the circumstances were not all that good. She tried to stop her body from swaying, but every time James took a step, she would bump back into his chest and her heart would jitterbug with nervousness.

Lily decided that since personal space was a lost cause, she would focus on her surroundings to dim her embarrassment somewhat. Looking around, she quickly recognised that they were nearing the Heads Common Room. She sighed with relief at the thought of being put down soon and allowed herself to relax a little. She was glad that James' hadn't thought to take her to any teachers tonight, but she resolved to report the incident first thing in the morning to Professor McGonagall.

Several pairs of footsteps sounded behind them and Lily wondered who they belonged to. She wanted to look over James' shoulder to see who had bore witness to her fall from grace, but since that required moving closer to him, she decided to give it a miss. It didn't take an enormous amount of imagination to guess who they belonged to anyway.

Finally, they all reached the Heads Common Room and entered. James carried her and instead of setting her down on the sofa like she had expected him to, he sat down and kept her on his lap.

Lily's face flared a fire engine red and she tried to get up.

"Remus, can you sort her arm out?" asked James, holding Lily firmly around the waist to stop her escaping.

"It is in there quite deep, but it shouldn't be a problem," replied Remus, who had moved to bend next to them on the sofa to get a closer look at Lily's injury.

She paused as their words sank in and looked down at her arms. On her right arm, there was a large shard of glass protruding out with sticky, thick blood bubbling around the base where her skin and the glass met.

Lily felt as though her head had filled with cotton wool and her vision started to blur. She flopped onto James from the wooziness, taking deep breaths in an attempt to cling on to consciousness.

"Oh god," she breathed faintly, "I hate blood."

James inhaled sharply upon finding Lily practically laid on top of him. Although fully aware that Lily did not mean anything romantic by it, the sensation of her breath on his neck and her warm body pressed against his was wreaking havoc with his hormones. It was with great difficulty that he managed to keep his mind focused on the problem at hand.

"Remus," he called with a hint of desperation, "Er - get ready."

"Distract me. Sing a song or something," Lily whispered, her face clammy and rapidly turning a pale green.

"You want me to distract you?" James asked, breathing his question on Lily's face which was mere centimetres away.

Under normal circumstances, Lily would have either jumped a mile or been reduced to a nervy mess at the close proximity. Being near to fainting, however, Lily did not even realise that he was so close, or pick up on the sudden suggestiveness his tone had taken. So Lily, being completely oblivious to all things subtle at that moment in time, just nodded her head groggily in assent.

James smiled wickedly, apparently no longer caring that his friends were watching the whole exchange. Once Remus was in position, poised with his wand at the ready, James tilted Lily's face towards his own and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

Sirius made a strangled noise from surprise, completely amazed by his friend's forwardness. Even Remus, who was supposed to be healing Lily's wound, found himself gaping at James' actions and had to shake himself a few moments later to get back on task.

Remus swiftly pulled the glass out of Lily's arm and immediately set to work on healing the open wound which was now bleeding freely. He made tiny circular movements with his wand, as streams of a pale pink light seemed to sew the skin seamlessly back together. Once he had finished, he stood up and not knowing where to look, decided to pretend he was examining the common room.

Lily, in the meantime, was dimly aware of something warm against her lips. She did not acknowledge it as anything other than a sensation, her mind still strangely fogged and light from the sight of blood. It took Lily a fair amount of time before she realised that the sensation was not merely warmth, but a body part - a pair of lips in fact. It was quite an alarming realisation to find that she had a pair of lips attached to her own, and what more, that this foreign mouth had the audacity to try and pry hers open.

"Gah!" she cried, her heart beating erratically and arms flailing as she fell backwards onto the sofa.

Her emerald eyes, that were only moments ago fogged with semi-consciousness, now cut into the boy opposite her like sharp flint.

"What the hell?!" she yelled, her face flushing a ferocious red.

James' looked a bit dazed at being unceremoniously pushed backwards, but pleased nonetheless. Despite the rather annoyed red head shooting daggers at him, the boy couldn't take his eyes away from her swollen lips. Lily noticed the direction of his gaze and bristled with anger.

"Done," said Remus quietly, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot with the blood-stained glass now in his hand.

Lily's attention was diverted and she looked up at Remus in surprise, "it's done?"

She looked down at her arm in confusion and ran a finger across the skin where the cut should have been. "But I didn't feel a thing. How did you get it out so fast?"

At this, Sirius snorted with amusement and speedily walked away towards the corner of the room. He stood facing the wall, his shoulders shaking from repressed laughter.

"I - I wasn't that quick," Remus hedged, his eyes continuously shifting away from Lily's in awkwardness.

Lily blushed at his words, quickly realising that James must have been kissing her for quite a while. She looked down at her arm again, pretending to observe the healed skin when really, she was trying to hide her burning face.

"Let me see," said James, shifting closer to her on the sofa.

Lily jumped up like a startled cat and pointed at him accusatorily, "You. Five steps away."

"Wh-what?" laughed James incredulously.

"Make that ten!"

"Have I done something wrong?" he asked with feigned innocence, arching an eyebrow upwards questioningly.

"I said sing, you idiot. Why would you do that?" she shouted, feeling her temper rise. Anger was quickly taking place of the embarrassment and Lily, finding anger to be the more desirable option, welcomed it with open arms.

"Actually, you said sing _or something_ ," James countered, relaxing back into the sofa with a smug smile.

Lily stood, speechless. She couldn't believe that he could sit there with such arrogance after embarrassing her that way. Her hand itched to slap that self-important look off of his face, which was surprising enough as Lily was very much against physical violence of any kind.

"What? Are you trying to impress your friends or something?" she snapped sarcastically. "Nothing like kissing unconscious girls to win some cool points."

James laughed heartily at this and leant forwards so that his elbows rested on his legs. "And it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that I actually wanted to?"

His eyes then trailed over her full length suggestively and back up to her emerald eyes. Lily gulped at the look he gave her, it was a wild and hungry look that she was not accustomed to.

She began to feel very uncomfortable and exposed, stood there in front of the fire as he observed her as freely as he wished. Lily wanted to carry on shouting, to put him in his place, but every time she caught a sight of _that look,_ she got tongue tied all over again.

As the silence stretched on, Lily found it all the more difficult to fill it. She racked her brains for some final retort, but found herself at a loss. So she did the only thing she could do under such circumstances and gave him the most scathing look she could muster.

Lily then turned from James to direct her attention elsewhere.

"Thanks for getting that out, Remus."

"No problem, Lily," Remus replied hesitantly, looking a little alarmed at being addressed so suddenly.

With that, Lily turned away from the group of boys and walked up the spiral staircase with as much dignity as she could. Despite the less than desirable turn of events, Lily gained some satisfaction in mentally scratching ten 'creepy weirdo' points onto her imaginary scoreboard.

 _Take that, Potter!_


	5. Chapter 5 - Fancy a bloodbath?

**A/N:** Recent reviews aren't showing up, but thank you to those that have reviewed. Luckily, they are linked to my email so I have been able to read them and they never fail to make me smile! Thank you for reading!

 **Story rating:** M

 **Chapter rating:** M (mild blood and gore, stalkery, dark theme)

 **Disclaimer:** All characters, settings and the general fantasy world belong to JK Rowling. I claim no ownership or profits whatsoever. The only purpose of this story is for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of those who visit this site.

* * *

There it lay, innocently on her pillow. Lily stared at the intruder with bulging eyes, unfortunately forgetting how to perform the art of breathing in her shock.

Her muscles were frozen from fear. How did it get there? Who had put it on her pillow? Why hadn't she woken up?

Slowly, one by one, her muscles overrode the fear and she found herself being able to move again. Her breathing quickly followed, gushing out in a sharp burst only to be immediately inhaled deeply back into her lungs.

Lily rose herself up slightly onto her elbows, her wavy copper hair falling over her shoulders. Her eyes never left the object on her pillow as she warily sidled out of bed. Her movements were calculated and delicate, as though she feared the object would spring to life and attack her.

Once she had removed herself fully from the bed and had retreated a safe distance, she took the opportunity to cast a fleeting glance around the room. Nothing else seemed to be amiss. Everything in her room was precisely as she remembered it but for one exception.

She looked back down at the single rose on her pillow. It was only now that she remembered having received a rose like this before. In the terrifying chaos of _that night_ , Lily had completely forgotten about her mysterious gift in the Great Hall - until now.

It was precisely the same red-orange colour, with an unmarked stem. Again, it seemed to have a note tied to it with a silky blue ribbon.

Lily's palms began to sweat from intrigue and fear. She itched to read the note and to inspect the rose more intimately, but her sensible side was insisting that she alert a member of staff to the intrusion before touching _anything_.

Her curiosity was beginning to smother the alarm bell, easily sidestepping all warnings her sensible side threw at her.

 _What if the rose is cursed?_

The last one wasn't. Why would this one be?

 _To lull you into a false sense of security?_

They could have easily killed me in my sleep.

 _Maybe they prefer romantising their murders?_

Lily smiled smugly as the warnings became more feeble. She walked tentatively to her bed and crawled over to the other side where the rose lay, waiting.

Just as her fingertips grazed the delicate petals, a wave of nausea overcame her as another message flashed in her mind.

 _Maybe it is the Order of the Phoenix._

Lily blinked in surprise, snatching her hand away like she had been electrocuted. Why would she think that? She could think of no logical reason for why her mind would spurn this possibility up with such confidence. It was out of character for her to jump to a conclusion without logical, well-reasoned steps to back it up.

She shook her head, chiding herself for taking leave of her common sense. In one decisive swoop, she picked up the rose and unfastened the ribbon that held the note against the stem.

Lily caught the note before it could float down onto her bed and unfolded it.

 _May they burn in hell and your soul be at peace once more._

This note was definitely more detailed than the last, but again, largely ambiguous. It vaguely reminded her of the 'sorry for your loss' cards she had been given at her parents funeral, albeit with the addition of a cryptic message.

The more she dwelled on the message, the more convinced she became that it was from a sympathiser, referring to her recent tragedy. It unnerved her that this person would send repeated sympathies anonymously, and she feared that someone of unsound mind had become obsessed with her.

Severus Snape sprang immediately to mind. The morbid and slightly aggressive tone of the message seemed very much to be his style, as well as the hint of obsession that tainted the gift. Obsession and morbid were two words that complimented her old friend uncannily well.

Lily and Severus had been the best of friends up until their fifth year when, in the heat of the moment, Severus had finally revealed where his true path lay. He had called Lily, his dearest and longest friend, the worst insult one could possibly think of: _a mudblood_.

In the months following the incident, Severus had plagued her every step, begging for forgiveness. It had got to a point where Lily had feared for her safety with his increasingly wild and passionate declarations, seeming to have driven himself mad from desperation.

Then, just as Lily had resolved to confide in the teachers of her concerns, Severus had stopped. He had stopped staring at her, he had stopped following her, and he had stopped trying to gain her forgiveness. It was as though he had stopped acknowledging her existence altogether. Lily had never been more relieved, and was glad to finally walk away from the first person to break her heart.

She mulled over the possibility that Severus had sent the two roses. Although he seemed the most likely suspect, given past events, Lily despised the thought of questioning him directly. So she decided to keep an extra close eye on him from now on, to try and gage whether his interest in her had been renewed.

With that settled, she left the rose on her bed and made her way down the dormitory stairs, out of the common room, and up to the fifth floor where Professor McGonagall's classroom and living quarters were.

She knocked lightly on the door, secretly hoping that the professor had already made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was not looking forward to telling her teacher about the previous night's incident, as well as what had happened that morning.

She knew that Professor McGonagall would scold her for not coming to see her straight away and upon reflection, Lily felt extremely silly for not doing so. Her masked attackers could have been found if she had been quicker to report the incident, meaning that herself and other students would no longer be at risk.

The longer Lily waited outside the door, the more ashamed she felt about how she had handled the situation. She had made a tremendous error last night, and she feared that such a mistake would strip her of her Head Girl position.

After what seemed like several lifetimes, Professor McGonagall finally opened the classroom door.

"Come on in, Miss Evans," said the professor calmly, as though she had expected Lily's visit. The professor promptly turned from the door, walked across the classroom and sat behind her desk.

Lily loitered in the doorway, confused. How could Professor McGonagall possibly have known she was coming?

After receiving a questioning look from the professor, Lily briskly walked over to the desk and sat opposite her teacher. She shuffled in her chair nervously, her eyes flitting around the room as though looking for some kind of inspiration on where to begin.

Professor McGonagall seemed to take pity on the nervous girl sat before her and smiled kindly.

"Lily, relax," she ordered, and magicked a bowl of biscuits with a wave of her wand. She then pushed the bowl gently towards Lily.

Lily immediately took a chocolate bourbon, thankful for the extra thinking time it gave her.

"I take it this is about your patrol last night?" questioned the professor, her kind smile involuntarily melting into a worried frown.

Lily stopped munching, her biscuit-filled mouth hanging open in shock.

"James came to see me last night and explained what he saw," the professor said. "I apologise, I wanted to come and see you straight away, but James said you had been feeling a little faint so I thought it best to wait until morning."

Lily hurriedly swallowed the large chunks of biscuit in order to free her mouth.

"Wh-what did he say?" Lily choked out.

"He told me how you had been patrolling, _alone,_ " she snapped the final word, her eyes flashing with disapproval. "And how he and his friends had seen two boys threatening you."

"James admitted to having been wandering the corridors with his friends - which he _will_ be paying for - and had overheard some noises coming from a classroom. He and his friends went in, stupified the two boys and took you straight back to the Head's Common Room. Myself and Professor Dumbledore went to inspect the classroom James spoke of, but unfortunately it was empty by the time we got there."

Lily stared at her professor dumbly. She was surprised to hear that James' had been so responsible in reporting the incident.

"Now, Lily, I want you to answer me honestly. You won't get into any trouble. Did you see who attacked you?" asked Professor McGonagall in a serious tone.

"No, I didn't see their faces," Lily answered.

"So neither you, James, Sirius or remus saw who they were. I find that extremely hard to believe," probed Professor McGonagall suspiciously.

 _Didn't James tell her about the masks?_ thought Lily curiously.

Lily nodded her head in response, unsure as to why she was going along with James' half truth.

"Well, is there anything to add?" Professor McGonnagall asked, looking at Lily with a mixture of exasperation and sympathy.

Lily licked her lips nervously, considering how very much more there was. She knew that she should tell the professor about how her attackers had questioned her on the Order of the Phoenix, how it seemed likely that they were Death Eaters judging by the masks they had wore, and not to mention the tiny little matter of how they had stuck a shard of glass in her arm. As she debated on whether to tell the Professor the _whole_ story, she wondered why James had not.

Granted, he had not overheard the whole conversation but he had known about the glass and the masks. What could he possibly gain from withholding that information?

"No, that's everything, Professor," Lily found herself replying, seemingly without her head's permission.

"If you remember anything else, or have any suspicions as to who they were, please let me know. It would be a great help," said Professor McGonnagall who was peering into Lily's eyes intently.

Lily looked back with determination, "Of course, Professor. I will let you know if I hear anything."

She stood up then, deciding on the spot that, whilst she was keeping secrets, to keep the mystery of the rose to herself. It worried her that she had been playing the role of 'victim' an awful lot these past few months, and she didn't want people to start seeing her that way. Lily was the Head Girl and she needed to be the one that people felt safe around. She couldn't be that person if she was constantly fainting, or getting attacked, or having other people protect her.

This problem was going to be one she solved on her own - no matter what the cost.

Lily thanked Professor Mcgonnagall and left the classroom, wandering down the corridors to her Potions lesson. It was nearing the end of breakfast and since Lily wasn't feeling particularly hungry, she decided to go straight to the dungeons. She took the long route so that she didn't arrive too early for her lesson, making sure to stay alert the entire time.

It angered her that she had to fear for her safety in her own school, a place where she should be free to act as any other teenager. Why should she be afraid to walk down a corridor on her own for fear of being attacked? She wished that people would get over their silly prejudices and leave her well alone.

As she revelled in her frustration and annoyance, she soon found herself arriving outside the dungeon and right in the midst of a frantically bustling crowd. Lily snapped out of her own thoughts as she tasted the fear buzzing in the air. Screams and terrified voices were reaching her ears, causing Lily to straighten up and convert into Head Girl mode.

She took a deep breath before muscling her way through the crowd. It was a difficult task, fighting against the people who were also trying to see what was going on, whilst the people who could see appeared to be frozen with terror.

When she did finally reach the front, she found herself stood next to James Potter, facing the open doorway of the Potions classroom. As though feeling her presence, he felt for her hand and held it like it was the most natural thing to do. Lily held it back, completely distracted by the sight before her.

There, splayed in the middle of the empty floor, was a dead body.

The person was completely naked except for a mask covering their face - the very same mask Lily had seen the night before. Their skin was a chalky white, as though all the blood had been drained from their body. No marks were evident, no signs of struggle, not a single drop of blood.

Suspended above the body was a bucket, floating magically a few feet up. Lily suspected that something would happen to the bucket if anyone was to step into the room.

Lily felt strangely calm. Despite the horror of the situation, Lily couldn't muster the energy to panic - perhaps she had no panic left.

She turned to the crowd behind her and surveyed them calmly as she prepared to speak. Her eyes lingered on Mary and Marlene who were close to the front of the crowd. Mary was as white as a ghost, trembling with her eyes clasped shut. Marlene had her arm around Mary's shoulder, patting her friend absently whilst she looked down at the corpse with ill-disguised fascination.

Lily pointed at her throat and said, "Sonorous!"

She felt her throat tingle as the spell took effect and made her voice echo loudly around the fear-filled corridor.

"Attention! Please could everybody follow our prefects, Remus Lupin and Sadie Humphreys, calmly back to the Great Hall and wait there for further instructions. Marlene McKinnon and Mary McDonald, please could you send for a teacher immediately."

There was a long pause and Lily feared that nobody would listen to her. Just as she was about to repeat the instruction, however, movement at the back of the crowd began and people started to gradually disappear from the vicinity until there was only James and Lily left.

He was looking at her expectedly, as though waiting for his own instructions.

"You stay with me," she said quietly, her voice back to normal.

She turned back towards the classroom and looked down at the body.

"Do you think it is one of the people who attacked you last night?" James asked.

"I don't know," she whispered. "I want to look."

James' hand twitched at her last words and Lily didn't miss the look of uncertainty that swept across his usually calm face.

"Okay," he answered simply.

They walked into the classroom together pausing after the first step, waiting to see if the bucket did anything. When it remained motionless, however, they continued forward.

When they reached the corpse, Lily bent down by the lefthand side of the body, bringing James with her. She reached out to touch the mask, to remove it, but James roughly grabbed her wrist to stop her. He bent his head close to hers so that she could feel his breath on her face.

"Are you sure?" he whispered into her ear, his lips brushing against the skin.

She wanted to move her head away but she felt as though she was under some kind of trance, as though the dead body had put her under its spell. Her body tingled at the contact of James' lips and she was ashamed at the excitement she felt, even with a dead body lying beside her.

 _This is sick,_ she thought. _What we are doing is sick._

Despite this, her hand continued, with James' own remaining tightly around her tiny wrist. Lily trailed her finger down the mask, from the top, over the nose, sliding past the lips until she reached the very edge of the chin. Slowly, she pulled the mask upwards and gasped as the person was finally revealed to her.

Upon the moment of revelation, wet, warm liquid crashed down onto Lily and James, bathing them both in the blood of Cepheus Mulciber.


End file.
